The present invention relates to shelf-stable milk-containing beverage products and to methods of producing the same.
In producing milk-containing products that include a flavoring that is acidic in nature, it has been difficult to provide a shelf-stable product which is comparable to a freshly made beverage. Such products include coffee-flavored milk beverages and orange julius which contain the acidic flavorings coffee and orange juice. While beverage powders and dried milk can be used to prevent degradation during storage, reconstituting the beverage from powders by dilution with water has not provided entirely satisfactory results.
It is reported in U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,182 that it has not been possible to produce acceptable ready-to-serve cafe au lait products involving high temperature processing followed by aseptic processing because of the development of both physical and flavor defects. That patent relates to such products in which the physical and flavor defects are improved by utilizing a buffering agent capable of buffering the coffee acids to a pH of 6.6-6.8, kappa carrageenin in an amount of up to 0.01%, and a chelating agent containing at least 0.005% sodium alginate and/or propylene glycol alginate, the amounts being by weight based on the beverage weight.